Spunky Dogg Farms & Forestry

[Spunky_Dogg]

I just want to sincerely thank the people who read this space. It's fun writing something different than news (which I do every day for the paper) and honestly, a bit relaxing for me. More updates to come.

[Spunky_Dogg]

ROCK ISLAND BAKERY

Hello Spunky fans!

I promised you I had plans for the island on No Man's Land and here it is - Rock Island Bakery. Here is the official company synopsis:

"Located in the middle of Moose Lake on Rock Island (from which the factory gets its name) in the shadow of the Missouri Ozarks is Rock Island Bakery. A subsidiary of Admiral Mills Corporation, the bakery makes all your favorite tasty treats such as Little Danny Snack Cakes, Uncle Josiah Pancake Mix, Duke Chocula cereal, Billy Crocker brownie mix and 89 other leading United States brands that you know and love."

The factory is accessible to the south via the concrete causeway that leads to a trail through Spunky Dogg Logging property and also to the north through a bridge route that leads back to the main access road.

This is the first major manufacturer to set up shop in No Man's Land, with interest increasing in this untamed portion of the Missourian frontier.

I also promised a picture of my PDA of where things stand at this point. My apologies for the shape of the fields. Apparently I can't plow a square to save my life, lol.



In other Spunky Dogg news, I am slowly putting the world together on this map, but money - as always - is an issue. I'm really trying to avoid using the money cheat, so everything is being handled through legitimate contracts and harvest sales.

[Spunky_Dogg]

WHAT'S IN A NAME?

Happy Sunday Spunky Fans!

As you've noticed, we have re-branded the company as Spunky Dogg Farms. We looked at our operations and realized we're more than just logging, it's the total operation now and we needed a name that reflected that.

We still plan to log during the winter as we have always done, but it's now about presenting the complete package - working the soil, raising animals, hauling timber to the mill and being the all-in-one, Midwestern operation.

As the screenshot shows above, we're growing tomatoes too as an effort to try and provide a steady source of income while our fields mature. Speaking of that, everything is on track for a good harvest this fall. We've plowed a sizable piece of land to the east of the barn, with plans to grow sugarcane once we can afford the equipment to do so.

Otherwise, we're in a bit of a lull right now. We've poured some concrete in a couple locations for eventual parking of equipment and as footings for a few buildings we may add later. As the old saying goes, we're doing the best we can with what we've got.

See you up the road,
- Spunky

[Spunky_Dogg]

RAISING CANE AND AUTUMN DAYS

Hello Spunky fans!

We are now in Autumn and just finished the first harvest of oats and wheat in No Man's Land. Canola, soybeans and barley shouldn't be far behind. We have also recently planted our first plot of sugarcane, which is probably the largest field of them all.

Hopefully, with this harvest I'll be able to afford the harvester as thus far I've only been able to purchase the seeder. We've also found another use for 82 Studio's lawnmower trailer and we wouldn't recommend more than six square bales (haven't tried with round bales yet) as it gets to be like a game of Jenga if you do.

In other Spunky Dogg Farm news, we're rolling right along. Purchasing equipment when we can afford it. We also bought a small subsoiler, which will help get the fields ready for spring planting. Here's a few other screenshots of our recent action.

[Spunky_Dogg]

HARVEST NIGHTS AND SNOWY DREAMS

Hello again Spunky fans!

Our first harvest in No Man's Land is complete and honestly, I can say I was a bit disappointed by the yields, which are below. Profit amounts are in parentheses:

Wheat: 2,690L ($1,974)
Oats: 3,763L ($4,156)
Canola: 4,804L ($6,092)
Barley: 12,481L ($7,909)
Soybeans: 2,126: ($TBD)

Total (minus soybeans): $20,212

Soybeans will be a summer sale, so I'll post the amount I get off of it at a later date. When I look at these numbers, my first thought was I have to move some crops around for spring planting. I'll likely put soybeans in the barley field, which I also expanded during fall tilling.
The goal is to try and enlarge each of my fields, although there is limited room with wheat, canola and soybeans as it stands now. A key thing to remember is I also planted sugarcane last summer, so that will be a new crop to come in next year.
In other Spunky Dogg Farms news, we have bought our winter logging tract (screenshots to come with the next update) in Plot 12 far to the west of the main farm. The plan here is to turn it into a sort of recreation area with a lake, cabins and a sell point at the inn. This is a project that will likely take multiple winters to accomplish as we have to log our way in.
Here are some more screenshots of the harvest, including stacking the dozen bales we got off the straw from the barley field. As always, stay safe and I'll see you up the road!

[Tylercheesey1986]

Might want to check this out
https://fs19communitytrader.freeforums.net/
It is a virtual dealership. Can b/blog, buy and sell anything.

[Spunky_Dogg]

FORT DONALDSON WORK BEGINS

Hello Spunky fans!

Construction work has begun on what will become the Fort Donaldson State Recreation Area in No Man's Land, specifically in Lot 12. We've started cutting roads through the wilderness, which has made us a decent amount of money in logging this winter.

Preliminary plans are a fishing pond, swimming area, inn and several camping/hunting areas. I plan to share screenshots of the process, which will likely take me several seasons to accomplish.

In other Spunky Dogg Farms news, we are prepared for spring planting. All the fields have been enlarged, which will hopefully result in higher yields with the next harvest. Our wheat field is a bit land-locked, so there wasn't much I could do, but it's slightly larger than when we first planted.

Sugarcane is...progressing, which is all I can say at this point. We hope to be able to write about it in the updates to come. For now, however, the world keeps on spinning.

See you up the road!

[Spunky_Dogg]

FORT DONALDSON FIRST LOOKS

Hello Spunky Fans!

Fort Donaldson State Recreation Area inside No Man's Land continues to progress, with the completion of the Dragon's Fire Inn and campground. This complex, which includes a playground, shower house and fishing pond, is at the entrance to the recreation area.

The inn is also a sell point for most root crops. Logging continues in the area and a large lake with swimming area is also on the to-do list, with construction expected to begin this summer. Personally, I'm pretty proud of how this is turning out in Lot 12 (is it lot, plot or tract? What's the correct term?) and I'm really excited to see what it looks like when it's finished. I might actually attempt a video (gasp!) showing off the final product.

For now, enjoy these screenshots and I'll be back for more!

See you up the road!
- Spunky

[Spunky_Dogg]

SUMMERTIME BLUES

Hello Spunky fans!

We powered right on through spring planting and it is now the first day of summer at Spunky Dogg Farms. Summer opens with our initial foray into livestock, which was possible after we cleared a grove of trees west of the barn in the middle of our property. We now have six cows that we are caring for, with more planned in the future.

Our canola, wheat, barley and oats fields have started to come in and developing quite nicely, with our soybeans and corn (which have the two largest fields on the property) yet to break the surface. All-in-all, things are looking up here on the farm and we're in a bit of a lull as we don't have the money right now to either buy equipment or continue work on Fort Donaldson.

Here are some more screenshots of recent action on the farm. As always, see you up the road!

[Spunky_Dogg]

HARVEST COMES EARLY

Happy Tuesday Spunky fans!

Harvest has come early on Spunky Dogg Farms, as wheat, barley and canola all came due at the beginning of summer, their earliest harvest to date. On the opposite end of the spectrum, soybeans and corn are a bit further behind, so it will likely be a race to the finish to get everything in before winter freezes us out.
That being said, summer is shaping up to be a wet one thus far, so I'm glad we got these three crops in the silo before the weather turned. We managed to catch a good price on wheat at Rock Island Bakery at $715 a bushel, which was almost $200 more than any of my other sell points and far above the $538 average price at this time of year.
Overall, the Year 2 harvest is looking a little better than the Year 1 harvest last year. If you remember, I mentioned moving some crops around and making some fields larger. All the fields got enlarged to some degree - although I put a shed in a corner of the canola field and that will likely account for the loss in yield - and I switched soybeans and barley, while corn is in the large field for the first time.
The following chart shows Year 2 results compared to Year 1. Some crops aren't a true apples-to-apples comparison due to the crop rotation. I'm sure I'll have a better year-to-year evaluation in Year 3's harvest as I'm not anticipating moving any crops in the spring.

Wheat:
• Year 1 - 2,690L ($1,974)
• Year 2 - 3,090L ($2,210) = +$236

Oats:
• Year 1 - 3,763L ($4,156)
• Year 2 - TBD (not ready yet)

Canola:
• Year 1 - 4,804L ($6,092)
• Year 2 - 4,384L ($TBD)

Barley:
• Year 1 - 12,481L ($7,909)
• Year 2 - 5,089L ($TBD)

Soybeans:
• Year 1 - 2,126L ($4,468)
• Year 2 - TBD (not ready yet)

Corn:
• Year 2 - TBD (not ready yet)

Here are your screenshots of the week! I hope you like them and as always, see you up the road!

[Spunky_Dogg]

I came up with this today during some free time at work (don't judge me! lol)

Farmer’s Paradise
(Parody of Gangsta’s Paradise and Farming Simulator, with inspiration from Amish Paradise from Weird Al Yankovic)

As I walk through the valley where I harvest my grain, I take a look at my house and realize it’s very plain.
That’s all right for a farmer like me, for whom a six-bedroom mansion is just a luxury.
At 6:30 in the morning I’m feeding my cows, while the greenhouse waters my lemons and Helper H plows.
I’ve been feeding and plowing so long, I wonder where the nine-day seasons have gone.
I’m a man of the land, I’m here to say, with a pitchfork in my hand and up to my knees in hay.

We’ve been spendin’ most our lives, livin’ in a farmer’s paradise.
I gas up my tractor once or twice, livin’ in a farmer’s paradise.
It’s hard work and sacrifice, livin’ in a farmer’s paradise.
We buy chickens at discount price, livin’ in a farmer’s paradise.

I don’t talk much, but I never look sad, and my homies agree I look good in plaid.
If you come to visit, you should never fear, for nobody’s died for close to 12 years.

We’ve been spendin’ most our lives, livin’ in a farmer’s paradise.
We’re just plain and simple guys, livin’ in a farmer’s paradise.
There’s no time for city life, livin’ in a farmer’s paradise.
We don’t fight, we all play nice, livin’ in a farmer’s paradise.

Hitchin’ up the tipper, making lots of butter (money), I placed a shed on Monday, soon I’ll place another.
So don’t be vain and don’t be whiny, or else my brother I might have to go on medieval on your hiney.

We’ve been spendin’ most our lives, livin’ in a farmer’s paradise.
We harvest all hours to our delight, livin’ in a farmer’s paradise.
There’s no cops or traffic lights, livin’ in a farmer’s paradise
But you probably think it bites, livin’ in a farmer’s paradise.

[Spunky_Dogg]

AUTUMN BEGINS

Hello Spunky fans!

We're now in Autumn of Year 2 at Spunky Dogg Farms on No Man's Land and it's looking like it could be a hot one, with temperatures in the 80s and even the threat of triple digits in the days ahead. At this point, all the crops are harvested except for corn and the fields have been tilled with lime applied.

Here are the updated totals. I needed some fast cash, so I sold soybeans earlier than I anticipated. We have chickens now, so barley will be designated for their feed. Although I may consider some specific chicken feed next year.

I'll admit that I'm surprised with soybeans. I honestly thought I'd get a better yield as they're in the larger barley field this year, but it still netted me a five-figure profit, so I guess it's not too bad. I know I gave up some money by selling them early, so I'm going to try and be more patient in Year 3.

In other farm news, there's been a bit of rearranging and some additional animals to the farm. The sawmill was moved west to the Fort Donaldson State Recreation Area for a future project there, while we carved out a chunk of the canola field for a sheep pasture. Moving the sawmill allowed us to extend out the wheat field to make up for the land we lost to the chicken pen.

At this point, we have six cows, eight sheep and 12 chickens. I keep talking about making a video tour of the farm. I'm getting closer to doing that.

Wheat:
• Year 1 - 2,690L ($1,974)
• Year 2 - 3,090L ($2,210) = +$236

Oats:
• Year 1 - 3,763L ($4,156)
• Year 2 - 4,833 ($TBD)

Canola:
• Year 1 - 4,804L ($6,092)
• Year 2 - 4,384L ($TBD)

Barley:
• Year 1 - 12,481L ($7,909)
• Year 2 - 5,089L (chicken feed)

Soybeans:
• Year 1 - 2,126L ($4,468)
• Year 2 - 7,353 ($11,234)

Corn:
• Year 2 - TBD (not ready yet)

[Spunky_Dogg]

STUBBORNNESS OF CORN

Hello Spunky fans!

We have just finished up Autumn and are beginning winter at Spunky Dogg Farms and sadly, winter begins much like Autumn ended: waiting on our corn.

The crop was finally ready to harvest on the last week of fall, but a day and a half of nothing but rain dampened our hopes. As dawn breaks on winter, could today be the day? We hope so, as another weather front is coming in that looks to bring us rain changing to snow and then back to rain again.

With our other fields all prepped for winter, minus some winter wheat that's growing, we have turned our attention back to Fort Donaldson and have started another logging project within the state recreation area, a part of which you can see above.

By our estimates, we have turned in more than $185,000 worth of wood at the mill in three solid days of logging, with more work to be done. Our hope is to complete this project before winter freezes us out.

Wheat:
• Year 1 - 2,690L ($1,974)
• Year 2 - 3,090L ($2,210) = +$236

Oats:
• Year 1 - 3,763L ($4,156)
• Year 2 - 4,833 ($TBD)

Canola:
• Year 1 - 4,804L ($6,092)
• Year 2 - 4,384L ($5,968) = -$124

Barley:
• Year 1 - 12,481L ($7,909)
• Year 2 - 5,089L (chicken feed)

Soybeans:
• Year 1 - 2,126L ($4,468)
• Year 2 - 7,353 ($11,234) = +$6,766

Corn:
• Year 2 - TBD (not ready yet)

Total:
• Year 1 - $24,599
• Year 2 - TBD

[Spunky_Dogg]

A TINGE OF SADNESS AND A RAY OF HOPE

Hello Spunky fans!

It is with deep regret I inform you that we lost our corn crop for this year. As you can see in the screenshot above, we just never could get it dry enough to harvest and with a yo-yoing winter (snow to rain and back again), we lost it.

I'm sure farmers, whether in real life or virtual, all have that same feeling in the pit of your stomach when you have to plow crop under. You hate it. Looking at the numbers below show that even with the loss of corn and setting barley aside for the chickens (which will probably be a every-other-year deal), we still managed to have a slightly better profit than Year 1.

That's encouraging. But what's even more promising than that is the outlook for Year 3. We're in the first day of spring now with a forecast high of 79 degrees at noon and cloudy with no rain for at least the next few days, this is definitely the best planting weather we've had in our three years.

A couple of things will be changing in the new season. We will be trying our hand at cotton for the first time, with cotton going into the soybean field and soybeans going into the cornfield. The former canola field has been expanded and split in two with oats going into both halves.

Corn will be in a new field located to the west of the now-cotton field and will be divided by the north entrance road to the farm. Barley (which is located on the hill behind the machine shop) and wheat (located south of the chicken pen in the former location of our sawmill that's now at the Fort Donaldson State Recreation Area) will remain where they are.

We've also carved out a smaller field next to the cow barn that will be wheat as well.

If this all sounds confusing, I don't blame you. I'll try to create a graphic with my next update to show you where everything will be.

Overall, we're ready to go. All new and old fields were limed during the winter and all our equipment is gassed up, greased up, primed and loaded. This is the year we step down on the gas pedal of our operation and mash it through the floorboard.

Should be fun, stay tuned.

Wheat:
• Year 1 - 2,690L ($1,974)
• Year 2 - 3,090L ($2,210) = +$236

Oats:
• Year 1 - 3,763L ($4,156)
• Year 2 - 4,833 ($7,404) = +3,248

Canola:
• Year 1 - 4,804L ($6,092)
• Year 2 - 4,384L ($5,968) = -$124

Barley:
• Year 1 - 12,481L ($7,909)
• Year 2 - 5,089L (chicken feed)

Soybeans:
• Year 1 - 2,126L ($4,468)
• Year 2 - 7,353 ($11,234) = +$6,766

Corn:
• Year 2 - Crop failed

Total:
• Year 1 - $24,599
• Year 2 - $26,816 = +2,217

[Spunky_Dogg]

MOTHER NATURE HAS A SENSE OF HUMOR

Hello Spunky fans!

Remember how I said that warm temperatures during planting were a positive sign for the season to come? Well, you can probably throw that statement out the window.

Shortly after planting came rain and triple-digit temperatures. As you can see in the screenshot above, the temperature is 113 degrees at 1:10 p.m. in late spring. It is now the tropics in rural Missouri (sarcasm). It is playing hell already with our cotton crop, with multiple small areas failing to germinate.

<sigh>

On a somewhat more positive news, the other crops are handling the weather surprisingly well. Corn, soybeans, wheat, oats, barley and canola have all germinated with oats, corn and barley having sprouted already. There is going to be a wacky harvest season, I can feel it.

In other news, I do plan on implementing the Precision Farming DLC next spring, as my crops are already in the ground. So, there will be steps taken this year to prepare for that.

We continue to log in the Fort Donaldson State Recreation Area. I am attempting to create one of the sets from one of my favorite 1980s movies. I think I can do, it just takes money.